The TShirt
by Rosafinch30
Summary: ONESHOT Rachel learns some interesting information which leads to her enlisting Puck's help for a very important task. Rated T for Language


**A/N: This is a ONESHOT that was inspired by going through my drawers to give to Goodwill.**

**I don't think this has been done. If it has I will take it down, but I honestly don't believe one exists.**

**Also, this idea has stalled the next chapter of "Can't Help Myself" simply because I couldn't take think of anything but this one.**

**I hope you all like it!**

**(***)**

**_Berry Household ~ Wednesday 10pm_**

_Rachel was watching a Real Housewives marathon with her Daddy in their living room. Her Dad had flown out to be with his dying mother in Alabama and Daddy would be flying out the next morning to be with him. They both decided that Rachel should just stay home until it was completely necessary to be there, in other words, for the funeral. _

_When the doorbell rang, Rachel and her daddy shared confused looks, neither expecting company this late._

"_I'll get it daddy, you just keep watching."_

_Rachel walked casually to the front door and peered out of the peep hole, "Noah?" She opened the door, "Noah, what's wrong? Is everything okay? Is your mother okay? Is it Finn? Or Hannah, is -"_

_"Berry, chill," he put his hands up to stop her, "Everything's fine."_

_Rachel looked at him confused, "Then what are you doing here? And so late."_

_He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I need to talk to you about…somethin'"_

"_Honey, who is it," Rachel turned to see her daddy approaching, "Oh, hello Noah! Is everything alright?"_

_He had to hold back rolling his eyes, "Yes, sir, I, um, was seeing if Rachel could help me with a few questions I had about our Spanish test tomorrow," Puck quickly exhaled. He doesn't think he's ever spoken that long of a sentence without one curse word in it._

"_Alright, I was just heading to bed," He took Rachel into a hug, "I'll text you when I land sweet pea, you can call me after Glee."_

"_Okay Daddy, give everyone a hug and kiss from me, especially MiMi."_

"_I will honey, good night Noah," said Hiram as he headed up the stairs._

"_Um, good night sir," said Puck. He smiled down at Rachel, "You gonna let me in now?"_

_Rachel finally realized that Puck was still outside, "OH! Sorry, yes, come in. I'm just going to turn off the TV and we can go upstairs._

_Once they made it to her bedroom, Puck noticed three cardboard boxes lined up along her window seat. One was marked __**New York**__, the next __**Garage Sale**__ and the last __**Goodwill**__._

"_You packing already?" he joked gesturing towards the boxes._

"_No, not packing. Just being prepared," she was clearing the piles of clothes off her bed and one t-shirt stood out, _

"_Is that Finn's shirt?" he asked as casually._

"_Yup," she grabbed that pile quickly and tried to hide it behind the rest. She turned back to him and smiled, "So what can I do for you, Noah?"_

_She noticed him shift slightly, "Where's your Dad?"_

_Rachel rolled her eyes, "Instead of scolding you for changing the subject I will just tell you," she noticed the grin he was trying to hide unsuccessfully, "My Grandmother, his mother only has a few weeks left so he flew out today and my daddy is flying out early tomorrow morning."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Why aren't you going?"_

"_We agreed that since we don't really know when she will pass, I will fly down when the time comes and I can attend the funeral. My grandma wouldn't be happy if I missed very many classes during my Senior Year. Instead of dealing with the wrath of MiMi, I am staying here. She's very stubborn."_

"_So that's where you get it from?" He winked at her and she ignored the heat that rose up her chest._

"_Funny, so what is it you had to say?"_

_Puck crossed the room over to her and guided her to sit on her bed. He stood a few feet away in front of her, "You have to keep eye contact with me, okay? Cause I am still not sure how I am going to get this out so….here it goes…_

**Choir Room – Thursday 3:35pm**

"Rachel! Wait, please just hear me out!" Finn Hudson's voice grew closer to the choir room. All its occupants were watching the door as Rachel Berry came storming in with Finn close on her heals.

"Here we go again," whispered Mercedes.

The duo that had started dating at the end of last year seemed to be fighting every day. It was usually about little things such as whose house they were going to study at or what they were going to do over the weekend. But as the first month of school slowly came to an end, Finn had messed up for the last time.

They could all see the tears forming in her eyes as Finn finally got her to stop just in front of the rest of the class.

"Rach, I just thought, maybe you can try and see what happens."

Puck was sitting in the back next to Lauren who seemed to be ready to make some popcorn. They had broken up over the summer when she had met some wrestling hero at a summer camp for overweight teens her parents had forced her to go to. They were still cool though and he liked having the badass chick as a friend.

He leaned forward slightly and whispered to Kurt who was sitting in front of him, "Do you know what this is about?"

Kurt turned his head slightly, "I have an idea." He gave no further information and turned his head back to the fighting couple.

Puck was really getting uncomfortable. Rachel was in full out tears and that was never anything he enjoyed watching. Especially since lately they are always caused by Finn.

"Finn, just please drop it!"

"Hey, guys," Mr. Schue slowly walked towards them, hands up in a calming manner, "Why don't you discuss this after Glee?"

Both teens turned to the teacher with a glare that made him cower and back away.

"Can you guys let us in on what's going on?" asked Mike.

After a few moments of silence, "Rachel," whispered Finn, "I just think you should consider it."

Rachel let out a loud laugh that was scary enough to make a few people flinch, including Santana.

"You know what?" she wiped the tears off her cheeks, "Why don't you tell them what this is about?"

Finn looked around nervously. Their friends on the edge of their seats, "Rach-"

"Tell them. They'll find out eventually," Rachel looked up at Kurt, "Kurt already knows, and I'm sure with my permission he would be glad to spread the 'word' to the whole school." Rachel made sure to give Kurt a small smile. Her eyes drifted quickly to the hazel eyes just over her best friends shoulder and quickly back to Finn, "Well?"

Finn took in a big breath and let it out slowly. He turned to the class his eyes focused on the ceiling, "I just thought that it would be nice of Rachel to apply to Ohio State."

"What!" Everyone seemed to say this at once along with a few gasps.

Kurt just sat with his arms and legs crossed bouncing his foot frantically. His eyes narrowed on Finn.

"Yes, Finn here showed up at my locker with an application to Ohio State, 'Look what I got for you baby, I think you should try to stay here because your dreams are stupid!' her impression of Finn's voice was spot on and Puck couldn't hold back the laugh he barked out.

Finn glared at him then back to his girlfriend, "That's not what I said Rachel!"

"You may as well have," stated Tina.

"Finn, you should know better than that," whispered Quinn.

"Ahhhh!" Finn shouted out in frustration, "I just thought that maybe she could do what I wanted for a change!"

Puck could feel his blood begin to boil. Lauren put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Stay cool, Puck, let Rachel handle this."

Lauren called Puck out on his feelings for Rachel a few weeks ago. She said that he needed to forget about Finn and tell Rachel how he felt. After many pep talks from her, Mike and even Kurt (he knew he liked something about that kid, he was full on Team Puckleberry) he made his move the night before.

"Bullshit." Everyone looked back at him.

"I'm sorry?" Finn was looking at Puck with narrowed eyes, "What did you say?"

Puck stood up and walked slowly down in front of Finn, his arms crossed, "I said bullshit."

"Noah," Rachel placed a hand on his arm, "Just let it go."

Puck's eyes didn't leave Finn as he shook his head, "No, not this time."

Rachel nodded. She knew what was about to come.

"You knew damn good and well what was gonna happen after we graduated. Rachel _is_ New York and she is going to be there with _or_ without you. Maybe it's time you realized just how much you are holding her back."

Puck was practically repeating what he had said to Rachel the night before. Except this time he got to say it directly at Finn. He thought this way was actually much easier. He was however going to leave out the part where he told Rachel he liked her just the way she is and then kissed her.

"What the hell do you care Puckerman?" shouted Finn, "You're gonna be stuck in Ohio with the rest of us anyway. Besides, you made a promise!"

"Promise? What promise?" asked Rachel quietly.

Puck ignored Rachel's look of confusion, "It's not about me Hudson."

"One of you needs to tell me what the promise was?" said Rachel as she looked at Finn then Puck.

"After your duet he promised he'd stay away from you," said Finn, "But obviously he doesn't give a fuck about friendship anymore."

"Yep, and I did stay away. And what happened when I did? She started getting over you. Rachel did what she needed to do and _that_ was to think about herself instead of trying to be what she thought YOU wanted her to be! Fuck she was gonna get a nose job and I sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen."

"Barbravention"

Rachel said it so quietly that only Finn and Puck heard it.

She looked up at Puck, but he couldn't seem to find the power to look back at her. She got it, she finally got it. All this time she thought Puck's motives for convincing her not to get a nose job was because of their religion. But in reality, it was because she was trying to look more like Quinn. That she thought that if that was the case, she could be what Finn wanted.

"Yes," Puck choked on the word.

"Oh that is such bullshit!" sounded Finn, "Kurt planned that, not Puck."

"Oh contraire, dear brother," everyone looked over at Kurt, "Puck was the mastermind behind that, I was just the emcee."

Puck looked down quickly at Rachel. Her eyes were on the ground but he could see the small smile playing on her lips.

Finn glared at both of them, "Rachel, can we just go talk somewhere else? I'm really sick and tired of all the dramatics."

The only thing keeping Puck from decking Finn was the fact that Rachel had just moved in between them.

Rachel put her hand into Finn's,

"Finn, I think we should just focus on ourselves the rest of the year. We can't keep forcing ourselves to make this work."

He looked like he wanted to object but she held up her hand to stop him, "I need someone who is going to encourage me, not hold me down. And if that means I'm single the rest of the year, so be it."

She turned to Mr. Schuester who was watching this entire event from the piano bench, "Mr. Schue, if it's okay with you, I would like to leave practice early today."

The teacher nodded silently and gave her a small smile. With that, she picked up her bag and exited the room.

"Mr. Schue," Kurt was standing and pleading with his eyes that he could follow her.

Mr. Schue nodded and the boy speed walked out the door and turned in whatever direction Rachel had gone.

Puck stared at the doorway secretly wishing he had the balls to go after her himself.

But before he could move Finn was directly in front of him again, "What the hell, dude?"

(***)

**_The Previous Night_**

"…_Finn is bad for you. He's done nothing but hold you back and keep you from being yourself. That's not cool and I'm tired of it. I'm not the only one either. Everyone sees it. Even Santana told me the other day she missed fun Rachel. If Santana can notice, then you know everyone else can. We all saw fun and fantastic and full of positive energy Rachel coming. Then New York happens. Of course I go and screw it up by telling him to just take you out on a stupid date." He noticed the rise of her eyebrows and continued, "Finn was being a whiny baby about you and I was just tired of it. But what I'm really tired of is you changing for him for him."_

"_I agree."_

_Puck had to keep himself from falling over from the shock, "Excuse me?"_

"_I said I agree Noah, isn't that what you want to hear? That's why you are here, so be happy I said it. But I am not going to do anything about it, not yet anyway."_

"_What in the living FUCK are you talking about," he was looking at her as if she sprouted a palm tree out of her ear._

"_He's got several strikes, okay. There is only so much one person can take and I've had my fair share."_

_Puck couldn't hide the smile on his face. Rachel was on the verge of finally cracking, no breaking. _

"_Don't look so smug," she stood and walked to the door of her bedroom. _

_He took that as his clue that it was time to go. He started to follow her but when she got to the door she stopped. He barely noticed in time but when she turned around they were mere inches apart._

"_What Rachel was I when you and I were together?" she said it shyly and looked up into his eyes._

_Puck placed a hand on her hip and ran his other up her arm, placing it on her shoulder. He leaned in slowly as he watched her features. She could stop this before it happened, he was hoping like hell she wouldn't. _

_He kissed her lips softly and pulled away before she can reciprocate. If her tongue ended up in his mouth, he was pretty sure they would have ended up with less clothes on and a lot of explaining to do._

_He gently placed his forehead to hers, "Fun Rachel of course. I like you just the way you are. Slighty crazy with a hint of awesomeness mixed in."_

Bleachers – Thursday 4:06 PM

"What the hell happened to us man?"

"High school happened, dude," Puck answered Finn's question as they both sat looking out at the football field.

After a brief shoving match that was quickly separated, Mr. Schuester suggested the two boys go somewhere to cool down. They ended up in the same place, but neither boy said anything about it. They knew they still had _some_ things in common.

"I guess we do worry too much about our reputations before it's too late. We end up hurting people we really care about, then shit like this happens," Puck was a little shocked by Finn's revelation, "Rachel said that to me the other day."

_Aha_

"Look, Puck, I shouldn't have made you stay away from Rachel. It wasn't fair of me to just stake claim to something that wasn't mine at the time."

"True," nodded Puck.

"She's ready now though," muttered Finn.

"For what?" asked Puck.

"To move on."

Puck's phone beeped in his pocket and when he pulled it out, he saw that it was a text from Rachel. Finn saw this too, "Don't worry about man," he stood quickly, "You really care about her, I've known that for a while. Just don't hurt her, alright?"

Finn held out a fist and Puck punched his to it, "I've been waiting too long to screw this up."

Finn smiled and walked away.

Puck checked the message and laughed

_When you and Finn are done comparing penis sizes, please come over._

_~RB_

(***)

Berry Household – 4:56pm

When Puck knocked on Rachel's front door, it immediately swung open. Rachel was smiling brightly, "Hello Noah."

He did a double take and realized she was wearing her #1 football jersey from the game she played in our junior year. Her hair was up in a messy bun, the days make up nearly invisible. The shirt was so big, he couldn't tell if she had anything on underneath. He swallowed hard and stuttered, "H-Hey."

"Come upstairs, I need your opinion on something," she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the stairs. He did his best not to try to look under the jersey for any sign of shorts. It was a mystery he had to solve, like, yesterday. He never got a chance though, cause when they reached the landing she pulled him towards her room.

She was in an awfully good mood considering she just broke up with her boyfriend less than two hours ago.

When they entered her room, he noticed the boxes from the night before lined up on the bench at the foot of her bed.

"I've only got two items of clothing to go," she grabbed the gray t-shirt he noticed last night and turned back to him, "SO, this is my dilemma."

"I say burn it," said Puck with a smirk.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I can take it to New York and be sure that it stay buried underneath all my other t-shirts. But the problem there is that I don't want it popping up out of nowhere when I may be in a particularly good mood and it would just damper it."

"Agreed, no go on New York," he smirked.

"Right, then there's a garage sale. I can sell it for a small price, but I just don't think I would be able to decide how much it's actually worth. That is not something I am going to put myself through."

"I'd say a penny," Puck made himself comfortable on her bed, lying back against the headboard, one arm over his head. He knew that this was gonna be a great ending to a strange day.

She ignored his suggestion and pushed forward, "Then there's Goodwill. Surely it would be the best option. Some poor soul that is down on their luck will receive the t-shirt and be grateful."

"So, Goodwill it is?"

"No, because I'm not willing to take the chance that I will be walking down the streets of New York and see a homeless man wearing Finn Hudson's T-shirt."

Puck laughed loudly, "So give it back to Finn."

"NO! Goodness no. That would just….no I won't be doing that," she sat on the bed next to him her eyes on the T-shirt, "Maybe I should just throw it away. Recycling is such a priority, but one measly t-shirt…"

Puck grabbed the shirt from her, "Trash it is," he stuck the it behind his back when she attempted to grab it, "I said, Trash, got me?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, trash."

"So," he looked around the room, "You said you had two items?"

"Yes," Rachel got up and walked to her closet, "This particular item is quite a good example of recycling," she walked out and held up the shirt. He knew that shirt. He thought he lost it sophomore year. It disappeared not long after…wait a second.

He pointed a finger at her, "You stole my shirt," he said.

"I did not _steal_ it Noah, you lent it to me," she walked back over and sat on the bed. This time she pulled her legs up Indian style facing him. The jersey was still long enough that he couldn't solve the mystery of the missing pants.

"Yeah, and you never gave it back," he poked her knee playfully.

"Simply a matter of procrastination," she smiled at him and they locked eyes.

Puck's chest felt tight and Rachel's breathing shortened. He was seconds away from sitting up and kissing her when she suddenly spoke, "So which box?"

He sat up and looked past her shoulder towards the boxes, "New York, no question."

She looked back at the box marked New York, "Yes, but there's a problem with that one."

"Which is?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She looked back at him, "Say I want to wear it sometime soon? I don't want to have to drudge down to the basement to get it out of the box."

He shook his head slowly, "You're right."

"I have a better idea," she gave him a look that made his pants tighten. She stood from her bed and faced him, "I think I'll just put it on right now."

Puck's throat tightened as she slowly pulled off the jersey.

No shorts, just white cotton boy shorts and a matching bra. He couldn't move at that point. Any sane 18 year old would grab her and kiss her before she had a chance to put the t-shirt on. Puck however always seems to have a problem when seeing Rachel half naked.

Simply because,

He never has.

And the fact that he has waited for this moment for a very, very, _very_ long time? He's taking the time to appreciate it.

Rachel isn't in too big of a hurry putting the t-shirt on though. She's enjoying the look on Puck's face way too much.

When she finally gets it on, he snaps back to reality.

She looks down at the t-shirt and back to him, "I think I will be wearing this quite a bit in the near future."

Puck moved to the edge of the bed and pulled her between his legs. He tugged on the bottom of shirt and looked up at her, "I won't mind if you keep for a little while longer."

She wrapped her arms around him loosely, "I never said I would give it back, did I?" she smiled at him devilishly.

Puck crashed his lips to hers pulled her closer by the shirt. She moved immediately, putting each knee on either side of him on the bed. He rubbed his fingers into her thighs as she tightened them against his hips pushing down and moving her hips slowly. She felt how hard he already was which made her push down harder on him.

He growled into her mouth and backed away slowly to catch his breath. He opened his eyes to find Rachel, lips red and swollen, a blush on her cheeks, eyes staring directly at his. Her chest heaved as she moved her hands to the bottom of the t-shirt. She pulled it quickly over her head and threw it on the floor. She met his eyes again, "Save pile it is."

**The End**


End file.
